Look Before You Leap
by 10th Muse
Summary: Hotch and Emily clashed as they worked on a case but when they were taken, something happened and they had to work together to find themselves or had they? And it didn't help that half of the team had to leave out of state on another crucial case! Rated M for language on later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Well, Here's the Hotch and Prentiss story I promise!**

**I do hope you like it. Please if you could put in a review and let me know what you think! Thank you!**

**Oh, and I change my pen name too! Figure it's time for a change.**

**The 10****th**** Muse.**

**Enjoy!**

**.**

Look Before You Leap – Chapter 1

.

"Stand down, stand down…repeat, stand down!" Hotch spoke into his microphone as he walked towards the dark van and opened the side door. "It's been four hours, let's wrap it up folks!"

She shook her head, "No, Hotch…he'll come. Just wait for another hour." She almost begged.

"No, Prentiss." He glared at her. "We've been combing the park a few times already and it's a no-go. We're wasting tax-payers' money, not to mention, unnecessary manpower that might be needed elsewhere."

"Hotch, he'll be here." Emily insisted.

He turned towards Reid, "What is your opinion, Reid?"

Reid looked at Emily and then Hotch, he saw the two were close to blows, he knew he had to defuse them; it seemed lately Hotch and Emily had been at each other's throat. "Er, Prentiss is right…the UnSub's M.O. does indicate that he'll strike with these given environment although…" he raised his voice a couple of decibels when he saw Hotch turning a couple shades of red, "Although I could be wrong…I mean, you and Prentiss have the right assessments on the UnSub and…and…he seem…er to like to hang around in parks…as well, as well at the playgrounds near elementary schools." He nodded assuringly.

"So you think he'll strike at the park or the playground next?" Hotch repeated his question.

Reid thought for a moment carefully before he answered, "Er…it's hard to …I mean, yes and no." He gave an apologetic look to Emily, "I'm sorry Emily but he may not do it here tonight…then again…the most ideal location...is at the playground where Morgan and JJ and Dave are at the moment, since he has not struck there for the last three days" His voice faded at the last part of the sentence as he looked away from Emily.

Hotch watched him for a moment before he sighed, "Thank you, Reid."

The young doctor nodded almost regretfully; he didn't want to see Emily getting in trouble.

"We'll leave and head over to McArthur's Playground." Hotch announced and began to relay his decision to the rest.

Hotch held up his hand when he saw Emily was about to protest, "I've made my decision, Prentiss."

Emily stood up, almost banging her head on the top of the van, "Hotch, I know I said he's going to be here in this park and I may be wrong, what if he's on the outskirts of the park?"

Hotch gave her an unbelievable look, "Are you serious, Prentiss?"

She nodded.

Hotch was angry, "Stop Prentiss! Just stop! Inside…on the edge…what's the difference?" he turned away from her and hand-combed his hair before turning back to her, "We are leaving…now. Let's go, Reid."

Reid nodded his head while he gave Emily a sympathetic look as he joined Hotch who was opening the door…

Emily glared at Hotch, "Fine! I'll patrol this area by myself!" as she grabbed her service weapon and rushed out without a word.

"PRENTISS!" Hotch called out but she kept walking away, ignoring him.

Hotch stepped out of the van and watched her disappeared into the darkness.

15 minutes later, she thought she was being watched as she walked on the sidewalk of the outskirt of the park, as well as the feeling that someone was following her even though she couldn't hear any footsteps. It didn't help the fact as well that some jerk was playing his stereo loudly. She would love to find that jerk's stereo system and shoot it right now but as it was, she continued to be vigilant as possible and remained calm.

It was impossible!

No, _he_ was impossible!

Her blood was still boiling from her argument with Hotch! How could he doubt her? She had this feeling the UnSub would strike tonight and here at this park popularly visited by hookers, transients, and druggies.

According to their assessment, the UnSub would have struck tonight; he'd take one of the unwary hookers or druggies at the park, preferably a young teen.

As for the playground, where the other team members were watching, would be too quiet and deserted, something the UnSub would avoid, he knew he would be watched, he knew the FBI and the police force were out there hunting for him.

She and Reid had gone through many times since this morning and they came to the same conclusion many times; the UnSub would be striking at the park tonight!

Why couldn't Hotch see this? _Urgh!_

Since he'd split up with his wife, Haley, he had been antagonistic and cold towards Emily as well; as if he was blaming his failed marriage on her!

Emily couldn't understand what had happened…No, actually Emily knew why…

_It happened a month ago, they had been working well, too well as it was. Their rapport was great, Hotch had partnered with her on many cases since she had joined the team and he had gotten to know her and vice versa, she had gotten to know him, as team mate went._

_They were good partners; they could read each other's intentions when they were on the field._

_The only thing they hardly talked about was their personal life; it was kind of a taboo subject for Hotch as he did not like to talk about his personal life which was fine with Emily._

_But Emily knew that he was having marital problems when he'd answer his phone calls from Haley with a stiff tone._

_When he began to spend more late nights at the office instead of going home, Emily took it upon herself to go to him and offered some help._

_Too often, she'd hear his phone ringing and too often, Hotch would ignore it._

_She knew it was Haley who was calling and she felt the urge to punch Hotch! Why was he doing this? He could have gone home to his pretty wife and wonderful son…something Emily was envious of; a family._

_One night, after a hard case when the team came back late and most of them had gone home as soon as their plane landed in Virginia. _

_All except Hotch and Emily; they headed back to the office as usual to write their reports on the case they had came back from._

_An hour into her report when Emily heard shoutings in Hotch's office, she looked up and saw Hotch on the phone gesturing angrily._

_Emily sighed; she knew he was having another row with Haley again. She was mad he was late again._

_Finally he slammed the phone down hard and walked to the window on the other side of his office._

_Emily knew this called for some help; she pulled her desk drawer opened all the way out and removed a bottle of Scotch she kept for emergency and two clear tumblers and walked up to his office._

_As the door was opened, she knocked on it anyways_

_Hotch turned around and was not surprise to see that it was Emily standing by the doorway and he also saw what she was holding, "This is not Bureau approved, Prentiss." But there was a slight grin on his face as he returned to his desk and pointed to the chair across from his._

_Emily nodded and stepped in._

"_I know but since it's after work hours, I figure you and I needed this."_

_He nodded as she poured two fingers full of Scotch into each tumbler and handed one to him._

"_What shall we toast?" He watched her._

_She thought for a moment as she stared at her drink and looked at him before she raised her glass, "To Cheryl Glasgow and the other four victims Charles Hammond killed, may they rest in peace finally."_

_Hotch nodded gratefully; he knew that she had heard the commotion he made with the phone call, "To Cheryl and those ladies we vindicated their deaths. They did not die for naught." He raised his glass and clinked it against hers and together they took a drink._

"_Mmm, nice Scotch." Hotch nodded._

_Emily smiled, "It's a birthday present from Rossi…1972 single-malt Scotch from Aberlour."_

_Hotch raised an eyebrow, "Nice…good taste, he certainly knows how to pick the year."_

"_I told him my great grandfather likes his Scotch and that he passed that tradition down to his sons up until my daddy; he was quite disappointed when I was born."_

_Hotch smiled, "Didn't the Ambassador want other children?" He took another drink._

_Emily shook her head, "Oh no…one kid was enough for her." She was staring at the rich amber liquid as she continued. "She did her obligatory duty as a wife to the Prentisses and that was that." She picked it up and downed the rest of her drink and poured more for Hotch and herself._

_They exchanged a few personal conversations before they turned back to work. For the rest of the evening and into the late night, the two worked hard to complete their reports as well as catching up their work they had left behind when they left for the case, Hotch decided it would be easier for Emily to work in his office together._

_What happened next, Emily still remembered clearly and knew it was something either couldn't control nor should they have done it…_

_Maybe it was the Scotch or the late night or the lack of sleep or the combination of all…_

"_Emily…" Hotch was nudging her arm._

"_Hmm?" She cracked an eye open, "Oh…sorry, I guess I fell asleep. Sorry!" She yawned and covered her mouth and grinned. "Sorry again."_

_Hotch shook his head, he yawned as well and they laughed when he did, "Infectious…yawning."_

_She nodded, "Yeah, Reid will give us some scientific data about yawning and how it's infectious and affect everyone."_

_Hotch grinned and nodded, "That's our Reid." He stood up with a stack of reports. "Well, we're done with the reports so we can go home…Emily, if you'll just hand over your stack…"_

_Emily had stood up and as she extended her hands with her stack of reports, she accidentally bumped into Hotch's stacks and the entire stack fell onto the floor and it became one huge pile of papers and folders!_

"_Aw man!" Emily covered her mouth in horror and kept from laughing. "I'm so sorry, Hotch."_

_He shook his head as he placed both hands on his hips and stared at her in disbelief, "What am I to do with you? This is the third time you've knocked over the reports!" he chuckled tiredly as he began to bend down and collect the folders and sort out the papers._

"_Third time?" Emily had also squatted down and began to shuffle the papers together. "I'm sorry, Hotch… I know I'm a klutz but you don't have to keep track of the amount of times I had dropped the reports. Thanks!" She said annoyingly._

"_Emily, I'm just kidding." He smiled just as he and she reached for the same stack of papers and their hands touched._

_At first they recoiled and looked up at each other, "Sorry." They mumbled_

_It was as if something had clicked in their heads._

_They were knelt very close together and their heads were almost touching…_

"_Hotch…"_

"_Emily…"_

_Uncontrollably they leaned forward and kissed._

_Dropping the papers onto the floor, they pressed their bodies harder and gave in as they touched each other urgently._

_Suddenly, Hotch's office telephone rang and the two broke apart as if they had been scorched as they stared at each other, breathing hard and fast._

"_Emily…I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" He was pointing to her shirt where he had begun to unbuttoned them._

_She shook her head, "Don't be, Hotch. I'm not." She licked her lips; it was swollen._

_The phone continued to ring._

"_You better answer it, Hotch." Emily said as she began to button her shirt up with shaky fingers._

_Nodding numbingly, Hotch got up and went to his desk and answered the phone; it was Haley._

"_I'm on my way, Haley…I'll meet you there." He replaced the phone on the cradle and turned to Emily. "It's Haley, I…I have to go."_

_Emily nodded but she didn't say anything or looked at him as she tucked her shirt into her pants._

"_Emily, look at me please."_

_She stopped her motion and after a moment's pause, she looked up and almost regretted; he looked disheveled, his tie was askewed and untied as well as his hair where she had ran her hand over and over and his shirt buttons were unbuttoned as well; did she do that? Yes, her face was heated when she recalled the urgent kisses and hands on her body…and her hands on his body…_

_Half an hour more, they would have been completely undressed and in the throes of love-making in his office…_

"_Yeah, Hotch?" She interrupted her thoughts, it didn't want to stop._

"_Jack is running a fever and throwing up, he can't keep any fluids in his body, Haley is taking him to the emergency room at the hospital."_

_Emily nodded, "I understand, Hotch…you should be there for Jack. He needs you."_

_Hotch nodded, "Yeah…I have to be there for Jack." He walked to her and knelt before her, "Emily, we…what happened just now…we need to talk but not now."_

_Emily shook her head, "No, Hotch. There's nothing to talk about. We…there's nothing. Just go…I'll take care of the reports. Go! Jack and Haley are waiting for you. Good bye Hotch." She nodded her head sadly as she turned away from him while she picked up the last folder._

"_Emily…" Hotch called out to her._

_She shook her head as she continued to look away from him; she did not trust herself at all._

_A few moments later she heard him walking away._

_A tiny teardrop fell on her hand; she looked down at it and dashed it away as she rearranged the reports…_

Another drop fell on her; Emily realized it had begun to drizzle.

And the tiny hair on her arms was standing on ends as she kept walking as casually as she tried to make it; someone was following her!

Taking out her cell phone, she made a call to Garcia and chatted on the phone, she hoped it might calmed her down; "…hey PG…whatcha doin' tonight?"

"Emily? Why are you calling?" Garcia asked her. "Aren't you at the job?"

"…Nah…Just walking around the park, waiting for Reid until he gets off work…"Emily continued her chatter loudly –

"What are you talking about? Reid's on his way to the…oh my god! You've lost Reid! Where are you?"

"…like in 'bout half an hour….yeah… oh…no…I hang on..."

"No…no, don't you tell me to hang on! Let me call Hotch!"

"I have to go; I think Reid's trying to call me on the other line."

"Are you in the park? Alone?" Garcia, in her scared tone asked her. "Damn it, Emily! You shouldn't do this to me! Wait till Hotch finds out you're going against his rules…let me get him…"

"PG, I have to go, I'll see you later." Emily ended the call and shoved her phone back into her pocket but at the same time she withdrew her service weapon and slowed her pace.

This time she heard footsteps quickening and before she could raise her Glock and turned around, she felt something hard smashed into the side of her head and she fell onto the concrete floor.

She dropped her gun as she felt the sickening pain and soon she tried to fight the oncoming darkness. "Wait…I'm…federal … agent…" she tried to open her eyes to focus on the figure but the pain at the side of her head felt as if a giant had stepped on her …. "Federal agent…I…" She tried to raise her arm… "…get off me…Hey… you hear me…I'm….fed…" She felt herself being dragged into the bushes. "Stop…stop, fed, agent…shoot you, scum…"

She finally succumbed to the intense pain and blackness.

….

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

**So far so good! Thanks to the good reviews! and to the guest reviewer!**

**.**

Look Before You Leap – Chapter 2

.

"Emily!"

"Emily! Wake up!"

Emily winced hard as she opened her eyes and blinked hard, "Oooh…" She moaned as she held her hands over her head. "My head. What…?"

"Can you sit up?" Hotch asked her.

"Hotch? What are you doing here? What happened?"

She felt him helping her sit up and he kept one hand on the back of her head.

A bright light shone into her eyes as she fought from it, "Urgh! What the…?"

"I'm checking your reflexes. You took a pretty bad hit." He said as he probed her head gently.

"If you'd stop shining that damn sunbeam into my eyeballs!" she griped begrudgingly.

Hotch sighed, "Emily, what do you think you're up to?"

She shook her head but winced hard as she placed her hand and saw that it was bloody.

Hotch saw her hand as well, "Paramedics are on the way."

"What happen?" She looked around and saw activities and realized they were not alone, she looked up at Hotch for answer.

"You were right, UnSub was here. He was following you."

Eyes widened, "Me?"

Hotch nodded as he frowned at her, "You were not the target but you happened to be there. He knew we were following him, just like you and Reid had predicted." He gave her an apologetic look, "I'm sorry for doubting you, Emily."

She shook her head, "Don't be, Hotch. I was not so sure myself at first."

"But you had it right. And I didn't believe you."

They were interrupted when the paramedics arrived with Morgan directing them their way.

"Hey Princess, next time you want to play hero, how about wearing a helmet?" Morgan teased her.

"Derek, I think Dave needs some help with the witnesses." Hotch said blandly.

Derek nodded and left.

Emily looked up at Hotch and grinned, "You did that on purpose…you're trying to get rid of him." She said softly.

He shrugged, "He was annoying you. I was just helping…I think your head is hurting."

Before she could retort, the paramedics knelt before her and began to inspect her injuries.

"Yeah, we need to take her to the hospital for an X-Ray…you know the drill, agents." He grinned at them.

Emily sighed, "You don't have to sound so eager, Harry."

"Hey, I'm just doing my job." The medic smiled as he shrugged.

Another medic had come up with a stretcher and patted on the white mattress, "Come on, Agent Prentiss, you know what to do unless you need some manly help." He wriggled his brows with a grin.

Emily tried to shake her head but she winced, "You know it's bad when the medic know you by heart."

They chuckled at her, "Yup Agent Prentiss. At least this time, we don't have to cut your clothes up."

Emily was lying on the stretcher as they strapped her in, Hotch grinned, "Dignity has no place with these guys, and I'm coming with you this time."

Emily frowned, "What about…the others?" she looked over the crime scene.

Hotch shook his head, "No…they can handle …"

His cell phone chirped; it was Haley.

"Hotchner."

He listened for a while with a frown, Emily watched him.

"Haley, I am in the middle of a case." He spoke softly into the phone.

"Ready Agent?" Harry the medic asked her.

"Just a moment Harry." Emily nodded over to Hotch.

Harry nodded back and stood aside, "Not too long, we really need to get your head looked into ASAP."

She nodded slightly in acknowledgement.

A moment later, Hotch turned to her with a regretful look, "I'm sorry, Emily. It's Jack. He's sick."

Emily nodded, "Of course, you must go to him."

He frowned at her, "You are not mad?"

She looked at him, "Hotch! It's Jack! Your son! He's ill, he takes priority, no matter what! Go, go to him now!"

Hotch seemed torn as he looked around him but his team was all over the place; he wished just this once he had a private moment with Emily but there were a swamp of people all over them.

Emily saw what he wanted, "Hey, you'd better go." She looked down and saw his hand near hers and reached over and tapped it, he looked at her, she smiled, "I understand…I'll see you later."

He looked at her and gave her a small grin and nodded before he turned to medic, "Okay Harry, she's yours to take care of." He gave him a meaningful look.

Harry nodded, "Gotcha Chief. I'll give her our special." He grinned. "I even have special lollipops if she behaves."

Emily and Hotch chuckled together, "Thank you Harry." They said at the same time. "I appreciate it." Hotch added.

"Come on Sam…let's go, we're wasting time, this agent's gotta have her sweet noggin' look into! And she might get a sucker…her choice of flavor if she plays nice!"

The medics began to laugh as they wheeled her towards the awaiting ambulance.

Hotch watched the ambulance leave before he walked towards his vehicle but not before Rossi stopped him.

"Why didn't you tell her?" He asked him.

"Tell her what?"

"The UnSub, Thomas Gibbs, he got away."

Hotch shook his head, "I don't see any need to." Hotch reasoned.

"Aaron, you know he's seen her and she had seen him, he's targeting her." Rossi held his hands up. "We have to put some protection detail on her."

Hotch frowned, "You think Gibbs will come for her?"

Rossi shook his head again, "He tried to assault her the first time, you stopped it from happening and he got away." He turned to watch the ambulance leaving as he continued, "I'd say he'll want to finish what he started, that's part of his MO."

Hotch clenched his fists tightly, "I can't protect her tonight…Haley called, Jack is sick, she's at the hospital now."

"Then we'll put some police duty there, Gibbs won't dare to act." Dave said with a worried tone in his voice as he looked at his wrist watch and continued, "We have to go. Are you sure you'll be fine?"

Hotch nodded, "I'll be with Emily as soon as I'm done with Jack."

Dave noticed he had called her Emily, something he hardly did unless he was under some strain which had been often lately. The older agent wondered what was going on between his friend and Emily.

Placing his hand on Hotch's shoulder, "I know it's not easy to split yourself in so many places but hang in there, the team is in good hands with me...unless you change your mind?"

Hotch shook his head, "No, they need you there, the team is short without Prentiss and me as it is. You'd better get going."

Dave nodded, "You better be safe."

Hotch nodded, "I will, keep me posted?"

"As always, _mon Capitan_!"

Hotch smiled slightly, "Stay safe."

Dave nodded, "Will do and take care of her."

Dropping his hand down, Dave walked away from his friend and soon hopped into the dark SUV where Reid, JJ, and Morgan were waiting.

"We ready?" Morgan asked the older agent.

"Yeah Derek, let's go." Dave nodded at him. "Galveston is waiting for us."

"Dave, are you sure Hotch is able to handle this situation?" JJ asked him as she leaned forward from the back seat.

"Oh yes, JJ. You're talking about Hotch." Dave nodded with confidence. "As soon as Jack's better, he'll be in his protection mode and he'll hunt Gibbs down and put that son of the bitch away."

"Let's hope Hotch gets to Gibbs before he finds Emily." Reid said with a worried voice.

"Hey, you're talking about Hotch here." Morgan turned to glance at Reid before he return to his driving, heading for the airport. "He'll take care of Princess."

Reid and JJ exchanged a somewhat apprehensive look before they turned their gaze out into the night. They were all thinking of the six female victims he had raped and tortured before he finally killed them.

….

Back into the hospital

"Okay, let's get her into the room; Doc wants an MRI on the head." the technician said as he wheeled Emily into the room.

Emily frowned; he head was throbbing badly, "Hey… I thought I'm just getting an X-Ray?"

The Tech shook his head, "Sorry ma'am, there's a change in the orders." He waved the clip board. "Your doc said MRI because that's a pretty nasty gash you sustained on the side of your head; he just wants a better read out."

Emily nodded, "Oh…okay…I guess that makes sense." She lay back down on the stretcher. "After that, can I have something to ease the pain?"

The tech nodded, "You're gonna have to talk to Doc. But I'll make a notation."

Emily smiled, "Thanks."

A man came into the room, he had a surgical mask over the lower part of his face, only his eyes were exposed, "Er…sorry Max," He read the tech's name tag. "There's a change on this patient's orders." He began to move to Emily's gurney.

Max turned to the masked technician and frowned at him, "I've never seen you before…who are you?" he tried to catch a glimpse of his ID tag but there was none on his lab coat. "Where's your ID tag, pal?"

The other man shook his head as he reached into his pocket, "I'm the new technician, Tom. I must have it in my pocket…" He raised his hand which held a gun with a suppressor attached on the end of the barrel of it and before Max could react, Tom Gibbs shot him in his chest twice, Max died instantly.

"Hey! I know you!" Emily raised her head and tried to grab his hand but all she got was a handful of material by his pants pocket. Gibbs then pressed a syringe full of narcotics into the side of her neck and instantly she lay back down onto the gurney as she fought the effects the meds were taking into her body but she turned to face him, "You're the UnSub…at the park! Shiii….it" her eyes finally closed as well as her hand flopped down; she was finally out.

"Yes, my pretty!" Gibbs said as he leaned close to Emily, "Sleep, sleep while I get you down, my pretty… Emily Prentiss." He smoothed her cheek softly. "So soft. So beautiful. You'll be my final accomplishment." He smiled as he stopped by Max for a while before he continued pushing it out of the MRI room and whistled as he wheeled her out into the hallways.

….

"I'm better daddy." Jack said to his dad as he sipped his hydrator juicer. "This is good."

Hotch smiled at his son indulgently, "I'm glad you like it, buddy."

Jack nodded as he sipped more.

Hotch stood up from the chair and moved over to the window and looked out, his mind wandering to Emily.

_What are you doing at this minute?_ He wondered.

_I hope you're doing fine, Emily. I miss you and I want to be with you._

"Daddy?"

Hotch continued staring out.

"Daddy!"

Hotch turned to face his son, "Yeah buddy?"

"Are you okay?"

He gave him a soft smile, "Yes son." He walked to his son and sat down beside him on the bed. "Jack, how are you feeling?"

Jack nodded his head happily, "I'm fine daddy. I was sick but the doctor takes care of my boo-boo." He frowned. "But now I'm good."

Hotch patted him on his leg through the hospital blanket. "That's good, son. Thant's very good."

"Daddy?"

"Yes buddy?"

"Do you have to go to work?"

Hotch frowned for a moment before he answered, "No, I don't. I'm here for you. Why do you ask?"

"Mommy says you hafta work all the time." Jack stared at his drink.

Hotch sighed, "Jack, I have to work, yes but I also have time to see you. I love you, you know that, don't you?"

Jack nodded, "I love you too."

Hotch smiled, "Can you look at me?"

Jack looked at his dad, saw his smile and returned his smile, "I love you, daddy!" He opened his arms out.

Hotch grinned wider, and hugged his son in returned, "That's my boy."

When they separated, Jack nodded, "You have to go to work , don't you?"

Hotch chuckled as he shook his head, "You know buddy? Sometimes you're more mature than you seem."

Jack frowned, "What's mat…her?"

Hotch laughed, "Never mind son, one day, you'll understand about grown-ups."

Jack nodded to his father as he continued to sip his drink.

Hotch looked up and saw Haley standing by the door of the hospital room.

"Hey buddy, I'm going to talk to your mommy outside but I'm right here, okay?"

Jack nodded again.

Hotch smiled as he stood up and left his son and met his ex-wife.

Haley was wearing a frown on her face; Hotch was used to that look nowadays.

"Did I do something wrong?" He asked her.

She was silent for a moment before she replied, "What took you so long in getting here? I called you more than an hour before you came?"

"Haley, I'm not going to justify myself to you but just for the record I was working."

Her eyebrows rose, "Working? Kind of late, isn't it?" Her arms folded across her chest.

"If you don't believe me, I don't know what to say."

She harrumphed angrily as she stared at him in disbelief.

"Has the dr. been in to see him?"

She nodded, "He has the flu…it's going around, half the school has it."

Hotch frowned for a moment and said, "You mean to tell me, it's not that bad?"

Haley snapped her head up from looking at her cell phone, "What do you mean it's not that bad? Jack is sick! Don't you care about your son?"

Hotch closed his eyes for a moment and opened them, "Yes, of course I care about Jack. You know I care about him. What I'm trying to say is he's not deathly sick as you made him out to be on the phone."

Haley stared at him in disbelief but before she could say another word, the doctor came up to them.

"Mr. Hotchner? Mrs. Hotchner?"

They nodded.

The doctor smiled at them happily, "Ah, good news…like I had assured Mrs. Hotchner earlier, it's a common flu virus. It's the time of the season where everyone's catching it, especially school kids and they're passing it to each other. Nothing serious, just have him take it easy at home for a couple of days should do it. And plenty of fluids…you know soups, Gatorades…He needs plenty of that to replenish." He nodded to them. "And kids' Tylenol if he runs some fever, that should do it and lots of rest. But you know the drill." Haley and Hotch nodded.

"Have him go to his regular pediatrician for his follow-up in three days. Any questions?" He turned to one parent and the other one.

They shook their heads.

He smiled again, "Great, Nurse will remove his IV and get the discharge paperwork shortly. Have a good night, folks."

"Thank you, Dr." Hotch shook his hand as he left.

Haley nodded at him.

Hotch turned to enter Jack's room and told him the good news.

Jack beamed, "I can go with you, Daddy?"

Hotch shook his head, "Not tonight buddy, I have to work, remember?"

Jack frowned, looking like his dad, "Oh. I wish I could stay with you, daddy."

Hotch held his son's hand, "Me too."

Haley sat on the other side of the hospital bed, "Jack, we talk about this; your daddy has to work long hours, I bet you can see him this weekend." She reached out and held his other hand.

Hotch nodded, "Yes buddy, this Saturday, we'll do whatever you want."

Jack brightened, "Promise?"

Hotch smiled, "Promise. Whatever you want to do or go."

Jack thought hard and smile, "I wanna go to the zoo!"

Hotch grinned but he frowned, "Wait…only if you feel better, okay?"

Jack nodded enthusiastically, "Okay daddy!"

"You'll promise me that you listen to your mommy and get better."

He nodded again, "I promise to listen to whatever mommy says to do."

Haley smiled at her son and nodded, "Okay, you promise."

Jack smiled at his mother.

A nurse came in, "Excuse me," They turned to look at her, "I'm here to remove his IV."

Hotch nodded, "That's my cue to go. Be good for your mom, Jack, okay?" He leaned over and kissed his son on his forehead before he left the room.

As he stepped out into the hallway, his phone chirped; it was Garcia.

"Yeah what is it, Garcia?" He paused looked out the bay window of the hospital wing; again he wished he was with Emily and he wondered how she was doing…

"What did you say?" He blinked against the flashing lights of the oncoming ambulance.

"When did this happen?" He leaned against the cool glass; his heart was pounding hard.

Straightening he began to pick up his pace and soon left the hospital and headed towards the parking lot, to his car.

"I'm on my way to the other hospital. What's the status of the team?"

Deflated, he nodded, "They've landed in Galveston….no, it's okay. I'll handle it. Garcia, I'm sure between you and me, we'll be able to find her. I know who we're dealing with, Garcia. Just keep a cool head. Just get all the files on Gibbs for now until I get to the hospital and we'll deal with the trail from there."

As soon as he got off the phone with Garcia, he stepped on the gas pedal and drove like a mad man; the blue flashers were on so kept going.

_Hang in there, Em! I'm coming for you!_ Hotch's looks were as dark as an angry cloud.

Tom Gibbs had better not lay his filthy hands on her or there would be hell to pay! And hell would be in the name of Aaron Hotchner.

…

End of Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

Look Before You Leap – Ch 3

.

"Garcia! Any word from Virginia PD?" Hotch was walking towards the emergency ward of the Virginia Hospital.

"Er…no but they have put an APB on Gibbs…his face is all over the news on every channel." She tried to appease her boss.

Hotch nodded, "Thanks, that's a start for now." He replaced the phone back into his jacket when the medical examiner and his assistant began to wave crazily, "Don't come any closer! Stay right there!"

Hotch stopped in his track and showed them his badge, "FBI, SSA Aaron Hotchner. I came to check on one of my agents, she came in a while ago with a head trauma. Front desk directed me here to the MRI. What's going on? Where's she now?" He glared at them as he saw the body of the dead tech.

"We have a code black!" the med examiner began to stand up and nodded to his assistant who had stood up as well as he approached Hotch, holding a note.

"Someone shot Max, he does the MRI…and our guess is the shooter took your agent."

Hotch paled, "Did you see it?"

The assistant began to close the double doors with shaky hands as he shook his head, "No…but we can look into the security room, all rooms and hallways are equipped with cameras." He pointed to one of the cameras in the corner, Hotch nodded. The assistant continued, "Oh and we found this on Max's body." He handed the note to Hotch.

'_Do not bother, I have Emily Prentiss, and Max has ricin in him; you better run, run as fast as you can_!'

Hotch snapped his head up at the assistant, "Ricin?"

He nodded, "There's white powder all over Max's body, my boss took some sample and he's gonna run some test right now, this ward is on quarantine." He turned to look at the dead body before he turned back to glance at Hotch, there was anger in his eyes. "Max is…was my partner…if you know what I mean."

He gave Hotch a meaningful look, Hotch nodded. "I'm Neal." He held his hand and Hotch shook it. "Please find that bastard who did this to my Max…" Neal bowed his head and began to cry.

Hotch watched him helplessly, "Er…we will, Neal, and I have to find my agent. Can we look at the security footage?"

Neal hastily wiped his tears and nodded, "Of course, come with me."

Hotch nodded as he pulled his phone out and dialed Garcia's number.

….

Half an hour later, Hotch and the assistant, Neal was watching the video feed and there was not much to see as Tom seemed to know about the cameras placement as well as he had shot down every one of the cameras as he wheeled Emily out of the MRI area.

"God damn it, he knew it!" Neal cussed at the screen. "He knew we'd be looking at the video feed and he shot them so we wouldn't know where he took your Emily Prentiss." He ran his hand through his ginger-red hair in frustration.

Hotch sighed in frustration, "It certainly seems to indicate it. Garcia did you get the feed?"

"Yes sir, I did and it's not much of it. Gibbs knows where to go and where the cameras are. And," she sighed over the phone. "There's nothing much I can do from here with so little. I'm sorry, Hotch."

Hotch shook his head, "It's okay, Garcia. I understand. By the way, I'm going to give you the name of the medical examiner, he's running test on the samples for ricin on the DB of the tech." He turned to watch Neal and frowned at him for a moment before he gave Garcia his full attention as she was trying to say something about his team who were still in Galveston, TX.

"Their UnSub is more than one?" Hotch frowned deeper as he saw Neal's strange look on his face; he was smiling. "Er…yeah Garcia, I'm listening to you…"

Neal then changed his expression back to one of worry before he turned to Hotch.

"Garcia, I'll get back with you…" He stopped speaking to her when he saw on one of the screens, a man was wheeling a familiar figure…Hotch frowned hard as he leaned closer to the screen…Hotch realized something as well; he didn't tell this assistant Emily's name, yet…

He began to press the number to Garcia's again, "Garcia! I have to get back to you…something has come up."

He quickly turned around to face Neal, "How do you know the agent's name?"

Neal looked confused, "You told me…"

Hotch shook his head, "No, I didn't. I said I was looking for one of my agent."

Just as Hotch began to pull out his service weapon, Neal had retrieved a syringe and quickly stabbed into Hotch's left chest directly and pressed it before Hotch could react.

In no time, Hotch dropped down quickly onto the floor and was knocked out cold.

Neal bent over to him to check on his pulse, "Oh…by the way, Agent Hotchner, I forgot to tell you, Max and I broke up a few days ago when he found out what I was planning and I needed Tom's help. Regardless, he became jealous, and I have told him many times, I hate jealousy in my man. My god…you are really handsome, Agent Aaron Hotchner. What a lovely name for a lovely and handsome man." Neal stared at Hotch lovingly before he looked up at one of the screens; it was showing Tom still wheeling Emily down into the basement. "Ah, Tom, my brother, you're such a dear, so protective of me." He smiled indulgently. "I love you so much and soon, you'll be rewarded…as promised." He bent down and began to pull Hotch out of the room and grabbed a wheelchair nearby and hauled him onto it and wheeled him into the basement, whistling tunelessly as he moved along.

….

"Hotch?" Garcia called out on her phone but there was no answer.

"Hotch?" She frowned.

"Oh dear…what should I do?" she muttered, and then stood up and paced around in her small office…

….Much, much later, in Galveston, Texas,

"Garcia," Rossi was annoyed at being roused up from his deep sleep by the over-excited tech analyst. "This had better be extremely important or I'm hanging up, I was having a heck of a dream; I was…never mind, what the hell is going on? Why are you calling me? Where is Aaron? Or Emily?" he glared at the night stand table and thought he'd read the red digits incorrectly; what the hell? It was 1 in the fucking morning! Which made it 3am in Virginia!

Doesn't that woman ever sleep?

"I'm sorry to wake you up but….it IS urgent, very urgent or I'll not be calling you and since I can't get a hold of Hotch which I'd usually do and this is about Emily and that's why I can't call her…and, and it's very rude to cuss at me. I mean Hotch or Morgan don't do that to me at all but since you are senior agent and all…"

"Penelope!" Dave cut in rudely, "Just tell me what's going on? And why can't you reach Hotch or Emily? And I'm sorry for thinking of cussing at you, I'll…try not to, and I'm not promising you, to not cuss you out again because it might happen. So, what's the latest in Virginia? Where's Emily?"

"Well, that's the problem. There's no Emily and there's no Hotch. They've gone missing."

There was a significant amount of pause from both ends.

"Hello? Agent Rossi? Are you still there? Did we lose connection? Hello?"

Rossi sighed very hard, "I'm still here, Garcia. How long have they been missing? And tell me exactly what's going on…from the beginning, and" He held out his hand in his room without realizing Garcia was several hundred miles away and she couldn't see him either, "mind you, no drama please. I can't take it at 1 in the morning."

"Oh…" Garcia sounded slightly miffed. "Well, I'll try to calm down but no promises from my end here." She frowned at one of the screens, imagining it was Dave Rossi she was glaring at.

Another sigh could be heard from Rossi's end, "Whatever, my dear…"

"Fine!" She huffed, "It all started…."She began to brief him on what Hotch had told her about the hospital incident and then, he abruptly cut her off.

Rossi frowned, "He cut you off?"

"Yes, aren't you paying attention to me?" She glared at the screen again.

"Yes, Garcia I am!" Rossi was standing and pacing the room back and forth, "I'm just thinking, dearie!" He said in a huff to her as well. "Now, please be quiet and let me think."

Garcia arched a brow at the screen but she refrained from making any more comments as she waited…slightly impatiently; she wondered if she should have called Derek instead, he'd be much more patient with her than this aging and prosaic agent. Penelope preferred the more refined and gentleness of Derek Morgan, he had a way of calming her down with his sweet and charming voice…

"….fly back now."

"Huh?" Garcia frowned again.

"Did you hear me, Garcia? Or have you fallen asleep on your job?" Rossi groused at her.

This was too much; he had finally pressed _that_ button!

"Okay bucko!" Garcia straightened up from her chair as she stared angrily at one of her trolls, the one that resembled closest to Dave, "You have no idea that I've been up 36 hours! I have not been home since you guys have left for Texas as well as Hotch and Emily were at the hospitals, I have not had a decent shower for over 36 hours, so I cannot imagine how I …never mind. And not to mention I have not eaten a proper and nutritious meal, my diet is definitely off the chart, and I've been brushing my teeth in the ladies' rest room! My eyes are screaming at me for much needed shut-eyes because it's not healthy to be awake for that long! And I've not had sex with my boyfriend for the last month because of my dedication to this job because I love you guys very much! And you really didn't have to know about the last part but I'm telling you anyways!"

She panted hard to catch her breath.

"O…kay…." Dave replied slowly. "I'm….sorry?"

Garcia nodded, "It's fine, Agent Rossi." She said softly. "I guess I was being slightly short with you…I'm sorry too." She winced; regretting the words she'd spoken, especially the last ones.

"It's okay, Penelope, we were…well, you were running on low fuel. I'll try to remember to let Aaron know to give you an extra day or two off when we closed these cases."

Garcia began to smile wide, "Well, Agent Rossi…you don't have to do that, it's rather generous of you but I thank you in advance."

Rossi harrumphed as he began to packed his clothes back into his go-bag; luckily there wasn't much stuff as they had just arrived at the motel hours earlier.

"Let me notify Morgan, he's going to stay here with JJ and Reid while I fly back to Virginia and we'll go from there."

"Do you think it's the wise move? I mean, leaving only three people…so few?" Garcia frowned.

Rossi paused angrily as he threw his toiletries bag into the larger go-bag and stared at the disheveled reflection the mirror in the bathroom revealed; he too had not slept much as he managed to crawl into bed only four hours earlier.

"Gee, Penelope! What the hell do you want to do? The team can manage by themselves, they are in the process of catching the pair of UnSubs…we're just a few clues shy. Reid is waiting for the results from DNA from the lab. And Derek is waiting for ViCAP. JJ is doing a victimology with Reid as well. I'm talking to the victim's family." He was gesturing wildly. "Now, what else do you think we're doing?"

She was doing her best to squint and tried to disappear even though she was alone in her office but the elder Italian's voice made it seemed as though he was there in the same room as her! Quite intimidating!

"Sorry!" She apologized.

"It's okay, Penelope, it seems we've been doing this all night…morning." He shook his head as he headed out of the room with his bag. "Get with local PD and have them begin searching the hospital from the top to the bottom, no exception. I'll get there ASAP. But I have to brief the others first. I'll see you later. Go home and please get some sleep. You're no good to me at this point."

"Yes sir…but…"

"No buts, Penelope! This is an order! I'm in charge now!" he ended the call without giving her the chance to reply.

He was standing in front of Morgan's hotel room door as he muttered, "Big boy had better not give me any problem either; I'm tired and cranky!"

The door cracked open slightly as Morgan looked out with one bleary eye, "Rossi? What the hell is this?"

"Derek, listen to me, we have a situation…." For the next twenty minutes, he talked as Morgan listened in disbelief.

An hour later, Rossi was on his way to the airport and half hour after that, the BAU jet took off and headed back to Virginia.

Rossi leaned back and closed his eyes, "Hope I'm not too la…" he was out soon, heavy breathing sounds soon came from him as he was deep asleep.

…

End of Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

Look Before You Leap – Chapter 4

.

"What do you mean it's all erased?" Dave Rossi glared at the security guard. They were in the video room where all the screens were blacked out.

"Whoever did this knew how to work our video system; he had deleted all the footage from yesterday up until today…and is still going on. As you can see," he pointed at the screens. "There's nothing; the camera systems are working but they are not recording." He shook his head in frustration. "I'm sorry, Agent Rossi."

Rossi sighed, "It's okay, Officer Hellinger…it's not your fault and you're right, this person knows what he's doing. Thank you for your time." He nodded to him and turned to leave.

When he was outside and at the hallway, Dave pulled his cell phone and dialed Garcia's phone number.

"Good morning Agent Rossi," Penelope Garcia greeted him pleasantly. "What can I do for you this morning?"

Rossi frowned as he removed his phone from his ear and stared at it for a moment; he thought he had dialed the wrong number.

"Er…Penelope? Is that you?"

"Of course it's me!" She smiled. "Did you get any footage in the video room?"

"How did you know…?" Rossi almost threw his phone away from him; seriously, he knew Garcia was good at her job but this was ridiculous! "Er…no, the security guard told me all the footage was erased."

"Erased?" Garcia frowned "But I thought…wait, Hotch was able to send me parts of it."

Rossi frowned deeper, "What do you mean parts of it? Officer Hellinger told me the whole of yesterday's footage was erased, all the cameras were shot off but the lines were still recording."

Now it was Garcia's turn to frown deeply, "Agent Rossi, I have some of the video, right before it was cut off when Tom Gibbs shot the technician."

"I'm on my way back to Quantico." He replaced his phone back to his jacket and hustled out of the hospital but stopped halfway to speak to a deputy who was standing outside the quarantine area.

He handed his card to him, "I'm FBI Agent Dave Rossi, no one is to go in or out of this area without my notification. Do you understand?"

The deputy nodded, "Yes sir. No one, or they will answer to me."

Dave smiled briefly, "Atta boy, Deputy Johnson or I'll hold you responsible."

The young man nodded before Dave departed.

…..

45 minutes later, in Garcia's lair; Dave was watching the horrific footage up until Hotch being taken down by Neal.

"Where's Hotch? And that assistant?" Dave posed the question.

Garcia shrugged.

Dave sighed, "I guess I'm returning to that confounded hospital again." He hung his tired head down. "I feel as if I've been wrung out and stretched as far as my body can go, I don't know if I have any strength left …why did I ever agree to come back?" He muttered to himself.

Garcia watch him and suddenly out of the blue, she stood up from her chair went to him and gave him a big hug which startled Rossi.

"What the…?"

Garcia let him go and looked at him with surprise, "Oh my god, Agent Rossi! I don't know what came over me! I…I…thought, I just thought… oh my god!" Her face was turning crimson which directly contrast the shades of her acrylic glasses which was bright yellow for the day, matching her sunny dress!

Rossi shook his head as he grinned, "No worries, Penelope," He patted her ample shoulder gently. "I guess I needed that hug, and thank you, I certainly needed it!"

"Oh!" She nodded.

"Now, I'm off." He made to move towards the door but he turned to face her as his hand hovered over the knob, "Don't take this the wrong way but when this whole mess is over, I'm treating you and myself to a long vacation, so you better come up with a couple of suggestions…somewhere where no one can reach us. No cell phones, no tablets, no PCs and no boyfriends." With that, he opened the door and walked out.

As the door hissed closed, Garcia was still staring at the now closed door as she mumbled, "Er…just you and me? Agent Rossi? What do you mean, just you and me? I mean, we don't have anything in common!" She squeaked at the last comment.

She opened the door and peeked around but Dave was gone by then and she was alone as she returned to her desk.

"Now, where would be a good vacation spot…wait a minute! I don't even know where he likes to go?"

….

"Hotch!"

No answer.

"Hotch!"

His eyes fluttered a bit.

"Hotch!"

"…Em…i…ly…?" Hotch tried to sound out her name; he heard her voice calling him. And it seemed to be from a far distance; his head felt heavy and under darkness. "Sho darksh...wheresh?"

"Yes, it's me, Emily! You're blindfolded and bound in metal cuffs, like me. And we're alone for the moment. Wake up, Hotch!" Emily urged him. "Remember our drug training? We must fight it slowly but we must fight it." She continued to urge him.

He nodded; every six months, all FBI field agents must attend a full day class as they were given hand-outs of the latest drugs out in the markets. As the DEA came into contact of many new kinds of drugs and its effects, FBI must be informed of them as well. And there were many.

Luckily for the two, this drug was nothing new but an old type; sedatives. But it was a powerful one; Oxycodone with three times the sedatives added into the mixture so as to give the user an unusual high. And if used often, it could be addictive.

As Hotch nodded again, he felt his head spinning; luckily he was wearing a blindfold or he'd really feel as if he was spinning!

He smiled goofily, "Hey Emilys….whatsh go..ing…?"

Emily frowned at him as she turned her head to the left, "Oh my …I guess, you're still having the effects…HOTCH!" She exclaimed, "Stop fooling around and get serious…we're not in a safe situation, in case …"

Hotch began to laugh as he swing his head side to side, "I'm she-rious. Wheee…whheeee.! This is fun…! I can't sheee! But I'm feeeeling verysh goodsh…" He stopped turning his head and panted hard. "I'm ti'urd."

Emily groaned, "Of all the….Hotch! Get a hold of yourself!" She wished she could reach over to him so she could smack him! But they were each cuffed to the metal table and in their underwear.

When Emily woke up some time ago, she too had felt what Hotch was feeling but luckily for her, the effects was not strong and it soon wore off as she tried to rouse Hotch while she assessed their situation.

But unlike Hotch, she was not in blindfolds.

"Em…are yoush there?" He laughed as he tried to raise his head but there was a leather collar on his neck and it was tethered on to the metal table. "Why can't I get upsh?"

"Er…you're tied up."

"It'sh a little draftysh….I'm getting goose-sh bumpsh." Hotch tried to smacked his lips, "I'm …hard-sh to talk-sh."

Emily finally couldn't help it but began to laugh!

It didn't help that Hotch was only in his boxers.

She had never seen Hotch in this situation! Oh, if only she had her phone which had a built-in camera! Oh, Garcia would have a field day with it!

"Why you-sh laughing-sh?" He frowned as he turned towards her laughter.

Trying hard to reign in her laughter, she cleared her throat and replied, "Nothing…you do sound…" She dissolved into another bout of uncontrolled laughter.

"Em-sh…i..ly-sh?" Hotch frowned.

"I'm sorry…wait...no, I'm not….! This is too funny!" As she continued to laugh, she wondered if this was an aftereffect of the drugs.

Finally she managed to tamp down her urge to laugh more.

As she took deep clear breaths, she noticed Hotch was doing the same thing; presumably trying to clear his head of the drug effects.

"Emily?" He called out to her. "Are you still here?"

"Yeah, I'm at your right side, Hotch. How are you feeling?"

He took a few more breaths, and nodded, "Still fuzzy but much better. Er, did I say anything foolish?"

Smiling, Emily shook her head, then she realized he couldn't see her, "No, you didn't. You were fine."

Not convinced, he frowned her way, "Are you sure? I thought I recall you laughing earlier…did you?"

Emily's smile turned to a wider grin, "Come on Hotch, would I?"

He thought for a moment and nodded, "Under the circumstances, yes you will. Come on, Emily. Did I say anything embarrassing?"

"No, Hotch…well, a little goofy but no more than normal. But in your defense, you were under heavy drugs and you were trying to fight it off."

"Huh!" He huffed with as tried to jiggle his cuffs, "Did you try to find out how to get out of here?"

"Of course Hotch!" Emily glared at him but saw that it was no use as he couldn't see her reaction so she continued to look about her. "There's only one entrance and exit; it appears that this is where they store extra gurneys, two of which we are laying on." She informed him.

He nodded, "What else?"

"That's it."

"What about our assailant? Tom Gibbs?" He pointed.

Emily frowned at him, "Hotch, there's two assailants. Tom Gibbs, the first UnSub and your Neal."

Hotch frowned, "Neal? Who's Neal? His name sounds familiar."

"He brought you here and he seems taken with you."

As if a light bulb lit on top of his head, Hotch nodded, "Now I remember! He was the M.E.'s assistant! He gave me a note, saying the MRI technician was shot and he had ricin on him, we had to declare the emergency ward on quarantine. I came to look for you and he showed me the video room. That's when he attacked me with a syringe. And I blacked out."

Emily nodded, "Tom Gibbs shot the MRI technician and used a syringe and shot me full of sedative. That's how he was able to subdue me."

"That assistant, Neal, he knew Gibbs. I remembered his expression before he came at me."

"Hotch, what's going on? Why are we the targets?"

"Emily, you were Tom Gibbs' target." He admitted finally.

"I am?"

"Yes. He was trying …to assault you when I stopped him."

A short pause before Emily continued, "Oh…I…thanks, Hotch. I…I'm sorry for not listening to you."

He shook his head, "I'm sorry, Emily. I should have listened to you and your instincts."

She shrugged, "I could have been wrong."

He shook his head, "Bravo team found photocopied pictures of you at Tom Gibbs' halfway house."

"Oh."

"You were right, he knew the FBI and the police were there at the playground."

Emily nodded.

Hotch continued, "And he found out you and rest of us were at the park and waited for you."

"Oh." She said. "And I walked right into his trap when I left the van. So stupid." She admitted. "I'm sorry I put all of us in danger, Hotch."

He shook his head, "Don't worry, we'll get us out of here."

"How?"

"I'm sure Garcia will notify Dave by now…even though they're in Texas."

"That's great."

He chuckled. "Have faith...we'll get out of this predicament."

"Hotch, we're half-naked, partially drugged and chained up. A rapist who's hell-bent on me and a tranny who's very taken with you, by the way. So, you tell me, how is it that we will get out of this predicament?"

Hotch nodded, "Hmm, since you put it this way, I can see we're in a pickle jar this time."

She nodded, "Maybe Garcia might catch on something for once."

Hotch smiled, "You're right! I did send her the last portion of the video, where Gibbs shot the tech. I hope it'll clue Garcia to Dave."

Emily smiled as well, "Let's hope she did. But in the meantime, we must have a plan B."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Well, while you're passed out, I heard Neal and Gibbs exchanged something interesting; Neal is Gibbs' little brother. And he's gay.

"Oh dear."

Emily chuckled, "Yes…the MRI tech, Max was his boyfriend..."

"Yeah, I remembered now, he was jealous about something and was shot to death."

Emily nodded, "Neal has picked his er…new boy toy…"

Hotch frowned, "Please don't say it's me?"

She began to laugh.

"It's not funny, Prentiss."

"I'm sorry, it is. To be someone's boy toy. It's a new one."

"Could you stop, please?" He tried to glare at her, even though he was in blindfolds. "And you had better not tell Morgan about this!"

"I'm sorry, Hotch!" Emily was still laughing but she was tapering off when they heard voices coming from the one exit.

"Voices…I think our captors are coming." Emily whispered. "Play along, will you?"

"Do I have a choice?" Hotch asked her as he rattled his chains.

…

"Scott McDougal?" Dave Rossi smiled at the Medical Examiner as he walked into the lab.

The older man looked up from his microscope, "Who wants to… Dave? Dave Rossi?" He removed his readers for a better look and his facial expression was one of familiar surprise, "Well, well! If it isn't the famous FBI crime fighter author who is persona non grata in most labs but," he began to walked towards Dave as he removed his gloves and held out his hands "not for me, you're not." Instead of shaking his hands, the M.E. pulled him into a bear hug as he laughed jovially. Dave was surprised by his warm greeting soon laughed as well as he patted him on his back as the two men separated and assessed each other.

"You look well, Scotty." Dave remarked. "What are you doing here in this hole? I thought you're teaching in Johns Hopkins?"

McDougal shook his head, "I officially retired from lecturing at JH but I find myself at loose ends and Molly finds me a nuisance at home." He and Dave began to chuckle. "You know me, I just can't put down my microscope and tools…so Brad Townsend approached when VMH's ME decides to retire. And I find myself saying yes and surprisingly Molly nudging me towards this way." He was leaning against a counter by this time; the man was pushing 73 years old but he was still physically fit as he made use of the hospital's gym every morning. "That's about two years ago."

Dave nodded, "Good to see you moving about, Scotty." He grinned. "How's the book you wanted to write coming along?"

McDougal shook his head, "Oh no, don't get me started on that, Davey!" He was the only man Dave allowed to call him Davey. "Unlike you, I'm not interested in selling my secrets….I don't have the patience to sit and type. In fact I still can't type!" He chuckled.

"I told you I have an editor that can do the job for you, all you have to do is write it down and they'll transfer it all on the computer. Just like all your autopsy notes."

McDougal waved his hands and shook his head again, "Maybe when I'm on my death bed…Molly has all my, as you call, chicken stretch, notebooks. She'll publish it posthumously."

Dave shook his head, "Nonsense, Scotty! Get it out before you're on your own breathing tubes."

McDougal smiled mysteriously before he frowned at Dave, "You're not here to harass me about the book, aren't you?"

Dave stopped smiling before he explained to him his purpose.

McDougal nodded his head and walked to his microscope and pointed at it, "That is not ricin as the note indicated."

"It's not? Then what is it?"

"Davey, you know if it's ricin, would we still be standing here without suits?"

It was at this point that Dave noticed a set of biosuit cast aside by the corner of the lab.

Dave raised his left eyebrow and shook his head, "I see, then what is this?"

"Talc. Baby powder to be precise. False alarm." He walked over to the hospital phone and called the Management office and relay the result.

A moment later he turned to Dave, "All clear, Davey."

Dave nodded, "I'm still missing my friends, FBI supervising Agents Aaron Hotchner and Emily Prentiss."

McDougal frowned, "I'm sorry Davey, all I know about last evening was Max, the MRI tech, his body was lying next door as a matter of fact." He nodded with his head. "As to your Agent Hotchner, I remember him but Neal was with him after we quarantined the emergency ward last night."

"Who's Neal?"

"My assistant, Neal Waters. He's been my assistant for half a year, a little strange fella; keeps to himself but a fine fella. His shift is not until another three hours."

Dave nodded, "I'll come back and question him. In the meantime, will you do me a favor?"

"Anything, Davey."

…..

Back in the basement, three levels down;

Neal Waters and his older brother, Tom Gibbs were having an argument, "What do you mean you'll not help me with her?" Tom stared angrily at his younger brother.

Neal gestured at Emily, "YOU know women are not my thing, Tommy."

Tom closed his eyes for a moment as he took a deep breath before he opened his eyes again, "I told you not to call me by that sissy ass name! I hate that name! I hate it when that ass hole called me that!"

Neal ignored his outburst, "You mean dad? You killed him just because he called you Tommy…"

Tom slapped Neal suddenly before he could finish his taunting.

Holding his face which instantly welded red because of his pale pallor, Neal stared at his brother in shock, "You slap me? You slap me? Why did you do that?" His eyes began to tear.

Tom began to regret as he gathered his brother into his fold, "I'm sorry, Neally…I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it! You know my temper. I tried to hold it!"

Sniffling loudly within his brother's chest, Neal nodded, "Did you really kill Daddy? Tell me again, please?" He snuggled more into his brother.

Tom sighed as he hugged his brother tightly, "Yes Neally, I waited until Dad was passed out drunk and I took out his favorite axe and began to chop his head, again and again. Chop, chop, chop." He giggled, Neal laughed as well as Tom as he continued, "It's like that legendary Lizzie Borden who axed her daddy and later her mommy, chop, chop, chop." He and Neal began to laugh.

Emily felt cold as she watched the two brothers laughed together and wondered what hers and Hotch's fate were going to be?

…

End of Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

**This chapter contains many strong and offensive words; if I offend, I apologize but it's necessary for the sake of this scenario.**

Look Before You Leap – Chapter 5

.

As suddenly as they cried the two brothers stopped and turned their heads as one and faced Emily as they separated and approached her.

"Ah, Emily Prentiss…meet my little brother Neal Waters, Neal Waters, meet Emily Prentiss, my new pet." Tom chuckled menacingly.

Neal waved at Emily, "Hello poppet, I hope you like my brother Tom, he's going to treat you very, very good. Aren't you, Tom?" He looked at his brother affectionately.

Tom, not taking his eyes off Emily, nodded, "Of course Neal, I always treat my pets very well." He reached over and smoothed Emily's hair gently, she tried to lay as still as possible; she knew that to resist him was to increase his ire.

Tom smiles increased, "Oh…she's not afraid of me, I like her. I wonder how long is she going to take to break?"

Neal shrugged as if he was bored, "Don't know, don't care. She's your pet, Tom." He moved towards Hotch and gently touched his shoulder which made him flinched, "Oh…this one might be feisty!" Neal looked up at Tom for a reaction but Tom was not paying his brother any attention.

Disappointed, Neal frowned and looked about him and saw a metal tool and grinned. He picked it up and stabbed Emily with it on her right thigh!

Not expecting it, Emily screamed with pain; Hotch began to struggle in his cuffs as he did not know what was happening. "Emily! What's going on?"

Tom, in the meantime, rushed at his brother in anger, "Why did you do that? You don't damage my toy!" He placed both hands on his brother's neck and squeezed as hard as he could. Neal's face began to turn red as his eyes turned up; he was asphyxiating.

Emily watched in horror and pain as Tom continued to strangle his own brother as they were lying over her legs and the strangest thing was she saw Neal smiling and the most strangest sight was Neal getting an erection right before her!

"Oh my god!" She muttered, her pain in her thigh temporarily forgotten.

"What?" Hotch whispered back near her, "What's going on, Emily? Are you okay? I heard you screaming, are they hurting you?"

"Wha…?" She turned to him from observing Neal. "Oh…Tom is uh….strangling Neal…and he is uh…oh god!" Emily began to blush and swallowed hard as she tried not to stare at Neal's very obvious erection but at this point, Tom was stripping his brother's pants while he was unconscious.

"Emily?"

Emily couldn't believe her eyes as Tom placed his brother's very erect and long penis into his mouth and began performing fallatio!

"Emily?"

"Emily! What's going on?"

"You won't believe me if I told you, Hotch." She whispered.

"What? What are they doing? …what is that sucking noise?" Hotch asked her.

"Er…" Emily pursed her lips, "Tom is er…sucking Neal's…er…dick." She revealed

"Oh."

"Yeah. And they are doing it on my legs. Definitely not a comfortable feeling."

"Are you okay?"

Emily rolled her eyes but she realized, thankfully Hotch couldn't see her, "Well, my legs are numbed aside from the two using them as a platform and the stab wound has stopped bleeding so yeah, I'm okay so far. But we're still stuck here."

Suddenly, a beeping sound went off.

It was Neal's cell phone ring tone; Tom had not expected it to ring and the ring tone startled him so unexpectedly that he accidentally bit into Neal's cock hard.

So hard that it woke Neal from his near unconscious state!

"OOOWWW!" Neal sat up instantly his hands in between his legs and he saw Tom's mouth which was bloody.

"You fucking bit my cock! Why the fuck did you bite my cock?" He held out both his hands which were bloody and showed them to Tom. "Look at this! What the fuck did you do to my beautiful cock?" He looked down and picked it up and saw that it was almost bitten off.

Tears began to fall from his face, "My fucking cock! How the fuck am I going to fuck?" He turned to face his brother angrily. "HOW AM I GOING TO GET A HARD ON? YOU FUCK!" He pulled the sharp tool from Emily's thigh out, which made her grunted in pain.

Hotch began to struggle against his cuffs again. "Emily!"

"I'm going to fucking stab her to death, Tommy!"

Tom shook his head, "No, you're not, Neally! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bite your cocky! Your…Your phone startled me!" He pointed at his brother's pants.

Neal looked at his pants as he reached over and dug out for his phone and looked at it for confirmation, "Missed call from that old fuck, Scott...I have to take this call."

As he took another step, he stumbled and winced, "Fuck! This is fucking hurting like shit!" he held his cock which began to bleed again.

"You need to stitch it." Emily offered, "And get some shots."

"Shut up you fucking bitch!" Neal glared at her.

Tom, whose head had been down, looked up and nodded, "She's right, Neally, you need to get medical help or you'll lose your dickie."

Neal turned his painful look to his brother before he dropped to his knees, "I need to call me boss first." He began to breathe hard.

"Uncuff me, Tom." Emily urged him. "I can help him, he could bleed to death." She held her chains up to him.

Tom began to panic as he stared at his brother, "Neally, I'm sorry! You cannot blame me for this…it was an accident…the phone, it startled me!" He ran his hand shakily through his thinning hair.

Neal looked up dazedly at his brother and smiled, "You're gonna pay for this, Tommy…I'm not gonna be able to get a fucking…erection…ever again." With that, he fell forward.

Tom's eyes widened, "NEALLY!" He grabbed his own hair and began pulling at it, "Oh my god! What have I done? What have I done?" He began to pace about the room as he tugged his hair, "I killed my Neally…I killed my Neally!" He continued to pace about as he muttered those same words.

"Tom!" Emily called to him, "He's not dead!" She tried to snap him out of his fear. "I can help him…Tom! Listen to me, get me out of these cuffs, I can help you and Neally!"

Tom stopped his pacing and turned to her, his eyes were fierce as he quickly went to her, "You don't call him Neally!" He was nose to nose to her.

She nodded, "Okay, okay…Neal…I can help Neal, he's not dead. He's just unconscious, lost of blood but we must hurry. We need to get him to a hospital…"

He came at her again, "WE ARE IN THE HOSPITAL! You stupid cunt!" He glanced up the ceiling, "We're in the basement, 2 floors below the basement, if you must know." He looked back at her and smiled, "But you didn't know, did you?"

Emily shook her head.

"Of course not. You were supposed to be my pet, I was going to have some fun with you…better fun than those pets before…" He shrugged and then as if he remembered his brother, his face changed to one of worry, "You say you will help?"

Emily nodded.

Tom frowned, "I'll remove the cuffs from you but if you try any tricks, I'll kill you."

Emily nodded, "I just want to help your brother."

…..

End of Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you Laila S! for reviewing every chapter of this story so far! and to all readers Thank you too!**

**.**

Look Before You leap – Chapter 6

.

"GPS indicates that it's right there in the hospital." Garcia told Dave Rossi.

"Can you be more specific?"

She shook her head, "Afraid not, sorry sir."

Scott McDougal held his hand up, "Perhaps I may be of help." He interrupted his friend.

"Hang on, Garcia." He lowered his phone and looked at the older doctor expectantly.

"I once found Neal hanging about below the basement. Perhaps we can find him there again?"

Rossi thought for a moment and nodded before he got on the phone, "Garcia, get on the Virginia PD, have two squads out front and I have a young man at the front door, have him meet me at the basement."

"Roger that, sir!"

Rossi turned to his friend, "Stay here, no matter what's going on."

McDougal shook his head, "No way Davey. That young man is a maniac. Like your young lady said earlier, he has a hidden history our hospital should have checked and didn't. I'm not going to be alone with him anymore than necessary or I'm tempted to bash his damn head! He killed Max, I know for sure." He opened the door and led the way to the basement level. "Come on, Davey…we have two madmen to catch! And your agents to rescue!" He grinned as he began to move with a spring in his movements. "Suddenly, I feel young again!" He left the room.

"Hold it, Scotty!" Dave had to restrain his friend. "I'm the Lead agent here, therefore I'll lead, you follow behind me. No cowboy antics!" he shook his head as he pulled his gun out, "Molly will never forgive me if anything happens to you." He began to walk ahead as the ME followed Rossi.

"Oh figgerty!" He waved Dave off. "Molly will be too busy with her bridge party to know what's going on."

Dave shook his head as the two men kept walking. "You are not a spring chicken you think you are, Scotty!"

"I'll race you to the baseman!" He began to pick up his pace.

"Scotty, you move any faster and I'll start shooting your sorry old ass!" Dave threatened him. The ME looked slightly stunned until he saw Dave's expression and grinned.

"You think you're funny, Davey!" They began to walk down the stairs again, Dave leading.

"Oh I know I'm funny but seriously, let me lead, just in case. You forget, he shot one of your hospital staff so he's armed."

The ME nodded and stayed behind Dave while he directed the agent where to go.

"Now, where's the deputy?" Dave muttered.

…..

Tom was working on Emily's ankle cuffs when he felt a sharp poke on his neck and looked up.

"That's far enough, Tommy." She said as she reached over and unbuckled the second ankle cuff, now she was free of her confinement.

Jabbing the prod further in, causing Tom to flinch, Emily smiled, "Don't like to be hurt, don't you?" He shook his head. Emily jerked her head towards Hotch. "Remove his cuffs."

"But I don't have the keys." He whined.

"Try Neal's pants!" Emily exclaimed. "Hurry before he wakes up!" She prods him again as she hobbled over to Hotch and removed his blindfold.

Hotch blinked several times as he adjusted his eyes to the room and the lighting and smiled as he recognized Emily.

"You're a sight for sore eyes, Emily!" He smiled. "Nice attire…or lack of."

She returned his smile and looked over to Tom who was slow in searching for the key. "Hurry up will you, Tommy!"

"I can't find the key, you bitch!" Tom glared at her angrily.

Emily shook her head, "Oh no, you didn't! It's Agent Bitch, Tommy!"

Tom dropped the pants and growled at her as he rushed at her with both hands out, "I hate women! They're nothing but cunts! Cunts!"

He had almost reached Emily when she stabbed him just as two loud shots rang out as well!

Tom crumbled in front of her dead.

She and Hotch looked towards the entrance and saw Rossi and an older man staring at them, Dave holding his gun. A younger man in police uniform standing next to Dave, holding out his gun as well as he stared at the two agents before him.

"Dave!" Hotch exclaimed happily.

"It's about time you got here!" Emily frowned at him as she crossed over Tom as well as Neal and stood next to Dave, "Where have you been? And do you have any spare clothes?"

"Are these the agents you're looking for?" McDougal asked Dave as he continued down the steps.

The young deputy continued to stare openly at Emily.

Hotch was frowning at him as he found a set of lab coats and draped one to her and put one on himself. "What are you looking at?"

"Er…er…nothing…nothing." His face was beet red as he quickly looked downwards.

Emily began to chuckle, "Hey, don't worry, he's just teasing you. You did great." She winked at him as she hobbled away.

The deputy looked up at her and nodded, he was pleased she complimented him…and winked at him, too!

Hotch shook his head, "I saw that, Emily!" He followed her quickly but stopped in front of the deputy and said, "Oh…" He pointed at Neal, "He's not dead, his dick's coming off though so he might be coming around. He'll be in a really foul mood when he does." He patted his shoulder and followed Emily. "Wait for me, Em!"

The deputy frowned as he stared at Neal Waters and his lower region and winced painfully. "That's gotta hurt." He shook his head.

The poor man suddenly began to moan, the Deputy jerked away from him, his hand automatically on his gun.

"Help…me…." Neal groaned.

The deputy looked up and realized he was alone; the ME and Dave Rossi had left as well. "Er…hello? Anyone?" He looked about him.

Neal moaned again, "Oh god…I'm hurting…."

"Er…I'm going to handcuff you, sir…" the deputy removed his cuffs from behind his waistband and walked slowly towards Neal and carefully cuffed him.

"Oooh…it hurts….mother…fuck….er…."

"Just stay where you are, I'm going to get medic." The deputy quickly left the room with a long sigh.

….

Emily was now lying on a hospital bed being attended by a doctor and a nurse, while Hotch and Rossi were standing by her bedside.

Rosssi's friend, Scott McDougal had gone back to his lab as technicians brought up the body of Tom Gibbs.

The doctor was stitching up the wound on her thigh, "A couple more and you're good to go, Agent Prentiss." She nodded at her.

Emily smiled, "Thank you, Dr. Lee." She looked up at Dave, "How did you find us?"

Dave explained to her and Hotch about the video link- feed and Garcia's involvement.

"Thank goodness for Garcia!" Hotch nodded.

Rossi smiled, "I promised her a two weeks' vacation…"

Hotch stared at him, "You didn't?"

Dave nodded, "When this case closed. Yes, I did."

"Just the two of you?"

"Yes. Why?"

Emily began to laugh, her whole body shaking.

"Hold still, Agent Prentiss…" her doctor was concentrating on the stitches. The nurse looked puzzled.

Dave was looking puzzled as he glared at Hotch and then Emily, then back at Hotch, "Care to enlighten me?"

Hotch was smiling, his dimples was deepening, "The last time she went on a vacation…Morgan swore he'd never take her with him ever again."

Emily continued to laugh.

Her doctor huffed in frustration, "Will you hold still?"

"I'm sorry, Dr. but this is too funny and you have to know our technical analyst!"

"Well…try!" She glared at her before she looked down again with the needle and thread.

Emily arched her brow but she stayed still on the bed.

"There!" The doctor cut the thread at the base. "All done." She stood up and removed her gloves. "Just take these antibiotics and if needed, pain killers. No field work for a week."

She nodded at them before she left them while the nurse cleaned the suture and placed gauze over it.

Half an hour later, the three agents left the hospital gladly and headed back to Quantico.

Penelope Garcia was waiting for them with her arms opened wide as she received them happily.

"I'm so, so glad you're okay!" She wiped an errand tear."

Emily shook her head, "Garcia, you know we'll be fine."

Penelope frowned, "No, I don't! So many things can happen. I mean you could be…"

David shook his head, "Garcia, relax will you? They are here, that's all it matters."

She looked up at Dave and nodded, "Yeah…yeah, you're right. Er…now, about the vacation you mentioned…"

Dave eyed Hotch and Emily, "Yeah…"

"You're serious about it, aren't you? I mean, you promised."

He nodded warily, "I did and however I must tell you, there is a stipulation."

"Oh." She sounded deflated. "Okay, I understand, you change your mind."

Dave shook his head, "NO! I mean, No. I stand by my promise. Two weeks' paid vacation."

Garcia frowned, "I don't understand? What's this stipulation?"

Emily and Hotch were watching them with vast interest as they stood close together.

"Well, a good and reliable source informed me that you've known to pack a lot and so…this stipulation…and don't be offended….because, really there's no need to do so in the first place anyways…" He grinned.

Garcia was beginning becoming impatient, suddenly shouted, "DAVE ROSSI! Just say it!"

Startled, Dave stared at her, "Wow! She's feisty, isn't she?" He turned to glance at Hotch who stared at Garcia as well and nodded.

"You had better tell me now or I'm going to make you regret it!" She threatened him.

"Okay, okay!" Dave held his hands out as he chuckled, "Two luggages."

"WHAT?"

"Two Luggages." He repeated. "I heard about your legendary baggages and we're not having it."

"But...but…"

Dave shook his head, "No buts. If you pack more than two, we'll leave them behind."

She began to pout, looking pitiful as she stared dolefully at him.

"It won't work on me, Mudgie tried it and I don't buy it."

She frowned, "You're comparing me to your dog?"

"Hey, he's family."

She opened her mouth to argue but stopped and smile, "Aw…family."

Emily grinned, "You use the trump card." She snapped her finger. Then she yawned.

Hotch chuckled, "I think I'll take sleepy beauty home. I'll see you two in two weeks. Enjoy your vacation."

Garcia smiled as she waved to them as Hotch and Dave shook hands, "Don't call me, well…I'm leaving my cell here anyways." Dave grinned. "I see you in two weeks. Bye Emily."

"See you two, PG, Dave!" Emily waved at them before Hotch escorted her out of Garcia's office.

"Dave, did you see that?" Garcia was watching Hotch and Emily's retreating backs.

Dave frowned, "See what?"

"They're holding hands!"

"Yeah…so what?"

Garcia gave him a look, "Does that mean?"

He smiled, "Didn't you know?"

She squealed loudly, almost busted his eardrums as he quickly covered his ears.

…..

The two days later in Galveston, Texas….

"Garcia?" Morgan was on the phone.

"Er…no, this is technical analysis Steven Wen. How may I help you?"

"Who?" Morgan frowned as he stared at his phone.

"No….it's Wen, not Who. My last name is Wen. May I help you?"

"Okay," Morgan grinned. "I get it, baby girl. You're mad at me because I didn't call you last night like I promise. I'm sorry, I did you wrong. It won't happen again, we cool?"

"Er, sir…I think you have the wrong number, I'm going to hang up now….have a nice weekend." The line was dead.

JJ and Reid stared at Morgan, "Er…what just happened? Who was that?" JJ stared at him.

Morgan returned her stare, "You're asking me?" She nodded. "I think I just got pranked." He glanced over at Reid, "Dude, is this your doing?"

Reid shook his head vigorously, "No way Morgan! You know I wouldn't do something like this! I swear!" His voice inflection went up three pitched higher than normal, his hands waving wildly.

JJ shook her head, "Guys, we don't have time for horse-playing crap! Henry is more mature than the two of you!"

Reid snapped his head as he turned to JJ, "I swear to you, I didn't prank him!" he extended his hand to point at Derek.

JJ grabbed Derek's phone and called BAU's number but she also received TA Wen on the line, "How may I help you?"

"Er…where is Penelope Garcia?" She demanded.

"Technical Analyst Garcia is on a two weeks vacation, I'm her temporary replacement." He informed her.

JJ's eyes widened, "You're her what?"

He explained to her again.

"Two weeks! But we're stuck in Texas! I have to get home to my son! She can't be on a vacation at…at time like this!" JJ ran her hand over her hair. "Oh my god. Okay, okay. Can you patch me to Agent Dave Rossi?"

"Hold please…hmmm, I'm sorry, he's on a vacation, ma'am."

She looked up at Morgan and Reid in disbelief, "You've got to be kidding me?"

"No ma'am." TA Wen replied dead pan.

"I wasn't asking you." She said irritatingly.

"What about Hotch?" Derek suggested.

JJ nodded, "Ok, can you patch me to SSA Aaron Hotchner?"

"Um…He's medical leave until next week, ma'am."

"Medical leave? Are you serious…wait…don't answer!" JJ closed her eyes.

"Emily?" Reid suggested.

JJ sighed, "What about SSA Emily Prentiss?"

"She is also on medical leave for a week, ma'am."

"Boy…you are so helpful, aren't you, TA Wen." JJ said angrily.

"Ma'am, there's no need to use that tone." TA Wen said calmly.

"Grr!" JJ growled in frustration. "Is there anyone there at the BAU office I can talk to?"

"I'm afraid not, it's after 7pm, ma'am. Working hours is from 7:30am to 4:30pm Monday to Friday, and closed on Federal holidays, ma'am."

"Oh my god, if you ma'am me one more time…"

"Ma'am, there's no need to use that tone on me…"

"Tone?" JJ was become heated, Derek was trying to take his phone from her but she turned away from him as she held one hand up as she glared at him. "What tone, young man?"

"I'm going to hang up on you now, ma'am because you're becoming aggressive."

"Aggressive? Wait! I'm not done with you! Don't you dare hang up on me! If you do, I'm going to hunt you down!"

"Hello?"

"Hello? Oh no, he didn't! The fool hung up on me! Wait till I find this fellow …I wring his damn neck!" She twisted the phone as if she was imagining the phone was TA Wen's neck.

"JJ….give me the phone!"

But JJ toss the phone onto the couch near them, "I change my mind, I'm going to shoot him as soon as we get back to Virginia. I swear Garcia has something to do with this." She walked out of the door, banging it shut.

"Uh…JJ!" Reid called out but she kept walking, ignoring him. Reid turned to Derek, "We are still without a jet and there's a hurricane on the way in an hour!"

"I agree with JJ, this has Garcia written all over." He rubbed his head. "I can't believe we're stuck here in Galveston for the next whatever days or so. We close the case yesterday but we're too late getting out of here. Can't drive out or fly out." He shook his head as he flopped down on the couch, his cell phone bounced out and fell on the carpeted floor. Morgan ignored it. "No electricity in the whole of Galveston! We're down to one phone. And it's hot as Hades!"

Reid bent down and picked it up and set it down on the table. "At least we have a place to stay, two floors up in the motel." He opened the mini 'fridge and stared at it, "Snacks that'll last for a few days."

"Reid, you're not helping. I don't like to be cooped up for a few days with just you and JJ…no offense but you guys are starting to smell like each other." He shook his head again as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "And I'm sick of sleeping on the couch."

Reid went through his go-bag and looked inside, "I have some books…"

Shaking his head, "Reid…shut up."

"But Morgan…"

"REID! SHUT. UP."

"Morgan, the books…" Reid held up a book.

Morgan finally stood up, grabbed the pile of books, walked out of the room and flung them out of the balcony and left as well.

"MY BOOKS" Reid exclaimed as he ran out after them. "THAT IS SO NOT FUNNY, DEREK!"

….

End of Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7

**And here's the last chapter!**

Look Before You Leap – Chapter 7

.

"You know it's going to be nearly impossible to get in there?" She glanced over to him.

He grinned slightly but kept his gaze on the road, "Don't you trust me?"

She nodded, "Of course I do but according to the latest news report," She held out her tablet, "The roads are basically blocked off. No way in or out."

"Not if you're part of the response team."

She stared at him, "Let me guess, you happen to be one of the team."

He nodded. "And so are you…and the BAU."

She paused for a moment before she laughed, "Hmmm, I wonder who signed us for it?"

"It's the only way I could think of getting into Galveston."

"Pretty smart."

"I thought so too."

"I wonder how the rest of the team's going to react to that news?"

He shrugged, "They'll be glad to help."

"I did wonder about the special rations in the back of the SUV."

He nodded, "Although I had to postpone my zoo trip with Jack."

"He'll understand, he knows saving other lives is more important."

Hotch nodded, "He did and I told him that when I get back from Texas, I'm taking two weeks off, so he'll have me to himself."

Emily grinned, "I bet he's thrilled to hear that."

Hotch grinned, "And I told him about you…do you mind?"

She turned to him and beamed, "What did he say?"

He grinned, "Oh…he was pretty excited. You know he likes you. I told him we're going camping and he's all for it."

Emily chuckled, "I like that." Then she became somber, "What about Haley?"

"She's not coming camping with us." He said, deadpan.

Emily frowned and then she reached over and punched him on his arm causing him to laugh. "You know what I mean!"

"She had no problem with Jack camping."

Emily shook her head, "No, I mean about me…dating you."

Hotch glanced at her, "No, Haley is fine with you too."

"Really?"

He nodded, "Yes, in fact she's happy for us."

Emily smiled, "Really?"

"Yes. She's dating too."

"Oh! That's good! Really good, I'm glad for her."

"Yeah, me too." He stared ahead.

Emily watched him.

Hotch felt her stare, "What?"

She shook her head, "Nothing."

"Em, I know you…tell me, what is it?"

"Does it bother you? Haley dating?"

Hotch shook his head, "Hardly. Look at us. At me, I'm dating my best friend." He smiled at her.

Emily grinned.

"I am glad for her, I'm happy for her." He said.

Emily nodded as Hotch continued to drive for a while.

"I wonder why the team is not answering their calls?" Emily was trying to call JJ but it went directly to her voicemail, as did Morgan and Reid. "I know Galveston's power is down but cell phone lines should be operational."

She looked out and saw a sign and smiled, turned to him and smiled impishly, "Are we there yet?"

His dimples deepened as he tried to ignore her but he found it difficult not to, "Em…you're so close to being toss out into the road. Ask me that one more time, and you will be." He reached over and patted her thigh, "Just sit over there, look pretty as you are right now and hang on. We'll get there when we get there."

She couldn't help herself and finally burst out laughing, he too joined in in her laughter.

The last two days had been quite fun for them; after they had finally confessed their feelings for each other when Hotch drove her home to his apartment.

They had spent all night talking and some other more intimate things.

The next day, when they found out about the weather condition in Texas, Hotch decided to take the FBI emergency SUV to Texas as flights there were grounded.

Even though Emily was on medical leave, she volunteered to accompany Hotch to Texas as well and they set off early that morning.

Dave Rossi and Penelope Garcia took off early to the airport for a well earned vacation; destination unknown as they had wanted to keep it a surprise even to themselves. Arming only with credit cards, cash, and passports, they waved Emily and Hotch good bye again. And as promised, Garcia had two luggages with her as well as Rossi.

"Where do you think those two really head to?" Emily turned to Hotch again.

He shrugged, "You know, for once, I really can't think of where he'd want to go and I usually know him pretty good."

"I think they went to Mexico." Emily guessed. "Tijuana to be exact, Pen had mentioned wanting to go there a couple of times." She shook her head, "Then again maybe not, it'll be too hot for her, she hates the heat."

Hotch smiled, "Italy."

She shook her head, "No way, too predictable. She's afraid of flying international." She grinned. "Mexico."

He chuckled, "You think so? Want to place a wager on that?"

She tilted her head as she looked at him and nodded, "Sure, why not?"

He nodded, "Okay, what are we going to bet on?"

She thought about it for a moment and said, "If I win, you'd have to…hmmm, agree to change your name to mine when we get married."

He laughed, "This is going to be interesting, Mrs. Hotchner-to-be."

She laughed, "Don't get too cocky, Mr. Prentiss-to-be."

"When's the wedding, babe?"

She nodded, "When the two comes back or next year."

He beamed widely. "That wasn't too far." He leaned over to her and picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles."

She blushed, "You know, we didn't use any protection last night."

He turned to look quickly at her and back to the road, "Oh…yeah…looks like there might not be a bet after all!"

They passed the green and white sign that said Galveston, Texas.

But Hotch and Emily laughed again delightedly as they saw it, "Almost there!" They both exclaimed together.

After they stopped for fueled and food, and with Garcia's direction, the two pulled into the motel.

But as Hotch pulled the SUV in the parking space, he and Emily frowned as they saw three familiar figures carry their go bags and walking slowly on the sidewalk out of the motel parking lot and into the sidewalk heading out to wherever.

"Er…" Emily leaned forward as she followed them. "What's going on?"

"I don't know." He opened the door and waited for Emily who had followed him out the SUV as well.

"MORGAN! JJ! REID!" Hotch called out to them as they hurried to catch up to them.

The three turned around and was surprised to see Hotch and Emily and quickly dropped their things and ran and hugged them.

"What in the…? How did you?" JJ was too ecstatic to see Emily to complete her questions.

"How did you get in here?" Morgan asked Hotch as they shook hands, each glad to see the other.

Hotch told them he'd signed the team as ERT from VA.

"You what?"Morgan exclaimed loudly as he waved his arms widely. "But I want to go home!"

Hotch shook his head, "Morgan, Texas needs our help."

Morgan stared at him with resignation and nodded, "Fine…what's one more week?"

Hotch nodded, "Let's get the go bags to the rooms."

Derek shook his head, "Well, we have a problem."

Hotch frowned at him, "What problem?"

Emily stared at JJ and Reid.

The two refused to look at her.

"JJ? Reid? What's going on?"

Hotch turned to face them, "What's going exactly?"

The trio did not response.

"Someone?"

Finally, Reid looked at Hotch, "Well, we got kicked out of the motel and…the manager, he….banned us from…coming back. Ever."

JJ and Morgan nodded shamefully.

Hotch and Emily exchanged disbelief looks.

"WHAT?"

"We got ki…"

"I heard you the first time!" Hotch exploded.

Reid flinched from him and stood behind JJ for cover, she in turn, slowly and soon was now stood behind Morgan with Reid behind her.

"How the hell did that happen?"

Morgan scratched the back of his bald head, "Well, you see Hotch…it started with the phone call to the BAU, we were trying to get ahold of Garcia and we couldn't…"

"Garcia's on vacation." Hotch shook his head.

"Yeah, I got that, and then we got into an argument with some tech named Steven Wen…who pissed JJ off because he kept calling her ma'am…"

"…And you know she hates it when people call her that!" Reid poked his head out from behind JJ's back before he quickly slung back when he saw Hotch's dark look. "Oh."

Morgan turned to Reid, "I was going to get to that, genius!" He turned back to Hotch and tried to smile but stopped when he saw Hotch was not amused anymore and continued, "And so, we had to try to get back to Virginia and JJ and I went to talk to the Manager to try to talk him into renting his vehicle. The man began to get belligerent!" Morgan waved his hands about him. "Can you believe it? I mean, JJ and I offered to pay $500 for his old clunker to drive out of here and have someone drive back next week! And he got mad!"

"It wasn't an old clunker, asshole!" JJ mimicked the manager's voice sarcastically, "It's an antique, and it belongs to my pappy!" She continued. "It has over 100, 000 miles and I changed its oil just last week! And I had the paint redone." JJ shook her head as she planted her hands on her hips, "It's a piece of junk! It might go another couple hundred miles, if you ask me."

"…And the man heard you insulting his baby and…" Reid came out from behind JJ at this point and continued, "They began to argue most heatedly with the manager about useless piece of junk cars."

Hotch closed his eyes and shook his head.

Emily began to laugh.

Hotch cracked an eye opened, "That's not funny, sweetheart."

JJ, Morgan, and Reid snapped their heads as they stared at Hotch instantly, "SWEETHEART?"

Hotch blushed at once and knew he had flubbed and nodded, "Yes, the gig is out."

Morgan and Reid whooped loudly as they smacked Hotch's back hard.

JJ squealed like a young schoolgirl as she rushed and gave Emily a hug!

"What the hell is this?" The motel manager came out angrily, "GET OUT! OR I'M CALLING THE POLICE! OUT!" He pointed the way to the road behind them.

The BAU team laughed and apologized as they picked up the go-bags and loaded them in Hotch's SUV and jumped in hurriedly and left.

"Where to?" Morgan smiled cheerfully.

"We are to report to the Galveston Fire Department House #5 downtown Main St."

Morgan frowned, "You mean you were serious about that?"

Hotch turned to Morgan, "Derek, are you not a lead ERT?"

He nodded, "Yeah but…."

"No buts, the only reason they let me into the county is because I told him we're here to lend a hand and…" He indicated the back of the SUV, "You saw the back; it's full of special rations."

"Come on, Derek," JJ grinned. "This is what we're trained to do as well; to help others."

"But I thought you wanted to go home to your kid?" Morgan stared at her.

"I do, yes but Henry has Will and he'll take care of our son. Will understands my job." She smiled. "Can't be selfish."

Reid nodded, "JJ is right, Morgan, Texas needs us again."

Morgan shook his head but he began to smile and shrugged, "Ah well, I didn't have any plans at home so…bring it on, Hurricane David." He raised both hands and dropped them on his laps in resignation. "Speaking of David, where's Rossi?"

"Vacationing with Garcia." Emily answered.

Morgan leaned forward, "Come again? Dave Rossi and Penelope Garcia?" Vacationing together? Are you serious? Did you tell him about her extra baggages?"

Hotch and Emily nodded, "Yes we did!" Emily laughed as she answered. "We told him about it so he gave her an ultimatum; he'd pay for her whole vacay if she'd only pack two luggages."

"And?"

"I don't know." She shrugged.

"Call her." JJ smiled.

"Oh I can't." Emily shook her head. "That's another stipulation; no cells, no tablets, nothing involving electronics. So we don't know how they're fairing this vacation." She looked over at Hotch. "And here's a bonus, Hotch and I made a bet."

JJ pushed Derek back, he fell into the back seat as she leaned forward; now she was in the middle of the back seat, "Details please!"

"Well, I guess that the two went to Mexico for their vacation, and if I win Hotch is going to change his name when we get married."

JJ screamed, "Oh my god! When is that going to be?"

"Who cares?" Morgan leaned forward next to JJ, "What's Hotch's bet?"

"Wait!" JJ shook her head, "What do you mean who cares?" She turned to Emily, "When is the wedding?"

"Well, that's part of the bet, if Hotch wins the bet, the wedding will be when Dave and Garcia comes back from their vacation."

"So soon?" Reid frowned. "Why so soon?"

Emily blushed deeply but didn't respond as she smiled widely.

Hotch grinned as well too.

JJ saw their expression, as did Morgan, "Wow! You two didn't waste any time!"

Reid frowned, "I don't get it, Hotch what's your guess?"

"Oh…I think they went to Italy or anywhere in the Mediterranean region."

Emily shook her head, "And I told Aaron it's too easy and predictable."

JJ turned to Hotch, "Why do you think so?"

He shrugged, "I don't know, he'd always wanted to go there, his parents were born there."

JJ and Morgan nodded and turned their attention to Emily and grinned, "Well, Princess," Derek said. "Looks like someone better dust off her wedding dress in less than two weeks."

"We'll see, Derek. We'll see." Emily smiled.

"What if both of you are wrong?" came from behind.

"Well, it depends on something else." Hotch picked up Emily's hand and held it.

"What?"

"Oh…we might get married in six months' or next year…who knows?" he turned to glance at her affectionately.

Emily smiled as she tightened their hold, "We're hoping it might be soon."

"It's my turn to be the Godfather." Morgan grinned at them and sat back as he nodded.

Hotch and Emily exchanged looks and said together, "We'll see."

….

Reclining under the large umbrella, Garcia sighed lusciously, "Oh my god! This is heaven!"

A chuckle came from the opposite, "I told you, you made the right decision."

Taking another sip of her mimosa, a new drink she discovered she liked and Dave had recommended to her! And it was her third one.

"This is more than heaven!" She uttered again as she leaned back. "I don't think I want to go back home. Ever."

Dave chuckled, "What home?"

She giggled, "I don't even know where we are."

"Me too."

She lowered her shades slightly and stared at him, "Come again? You don't know where we're at?"

Dave shook his head, "Nope, don't know, don't care."

Penelope frowned at him, "But what if…"

Dave shook his head, "Penny, I told you not to worry, we're on a vacation."

"I know but…"

"Shh."

"I…"

"Shush…"

"Bu…"

"No…."

"Okay…."

"Take a drink, Penny."

"Yes, sir."

"Good girl."

"Hmmm…"

"Better?"

"Oh, yes."

Half an hour later…

"Dave?"

"Yes Pen?"

"Where are we going tomorrow?"

"Where do you want to go?"

She cracked an eye opened and looked ahead, "How about over there?" She pointed.

Dave followed where she indicated and nodded, "You like boat rides?"

"Oh. I've never been on boats."

"It's fun."

"Okay, I'll try."

"Good girl. I call James and he'll get the boat out on the dock for tomorrow."

Garcia paused for a moment as she stared at the man reclining across from her and suddenly she smiled, "Don't tell me you own that island?"

Dave nodded, "Afraid so. It's not really big but it's private."

"I don't mind. So, don't pack?"

He shook his head, "Nope, no need."

She giggled, "I like that."

"Me too. I like Tuscany very much."

"Me too." They sipped on their mimosas together and leaned back on their lounges and soaked in the Mediterranean sun.

…

The End

**Thank you Everybody for reading this story! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I had writing! Thank you Laila S! for reviewing every chapter! You are awesome!**

**10****th**** Muse.**


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